British RAF chief calls it 'unacceptable' for China to recruit western military pilots
- In Reports
- 01:45 PM, Mar 02, 2023
- Myind Staff
Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) chief says it was "unacceptable" its former pilots were being recruited to train the Chinese military, and intelligence agencies in Australia and Britain had shared information to warn pilots against working for Beijing, Reuters reported.
In October Britain said it would change the law to make it an offence for a former military pilot to continue training a foreign military after being warned by British intelligence agencies to stop.
The Royal Air Force's Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston told ABC in an interview at the Avalon Air Show in Australia the warnings were about China.
"We made the decision to go public on this in a very loud, clear way, that it's unacceptable and it's something that we were prepared to call China out publicly," he said.
"Since then, we've had a number of people come to us, to the authorities saying, 'I've been approached, this has happened to me' — the level of awareness, and I think that's reflected internationally now, that's reassured me that we've got the message across".
"I'm confident that this approach, has nipped this in the bud, this problem in the bud," the Air Chief Marshal predicted.
Australia said it will also tighten the law to stop the practice. Australia's spy chief last week hit out in his annual security threat assessment at former military pilots who turn to work for authoritarian regimes, describing them as "lackeys, more 'top tools' than 'top guns'".
"Because of our close intelligence relationship with Australia and other allies, we all shared that information, we were all alert to it, and we have been in lockstep with the Australian authorities throughout this process," Wigston told the ABC, adding that he believed the public warnings had worked.
Image courtesy: Joe Giddens/Reuters
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